Introduction
DataPortability.org is an advocacy group dedicated to identifying and promoting interoperability and reuse of electronic data across vendors and technologies.
The purpose of this document is to detail the structure of the organization, and the methods by which it reaches official decisions and carries out regular business.
Unless otherwise detailed in this document or required by law, the parliamentary procedures described in the book, "Roberts Rules of Order, 10th Edition" shall be considered authoritative when carrying out the business of DataPortability.org.
The membership of DataPortability.org is spread across the world, making physical meetings impractical. Because of this, the deliberative work of the organization shall be carried out primarily via electronic communications. Group email, chat, and voice conference software will be used to convene meetings and perform regular business.
Article 1. Organization Structure
Section 1.1 DataPortability.org shall consist of the PLENARY, a STEERING group, a set of ACTION groups and TASK FORCE groups as deemed necessary by Steering or the Plenary, and AFFILIATED PROJECTS.
Section 1.2 The PLENARY is the set of all people who have officially declared their desire to be voting members in DataPortability.org.
Section 1.3 The STEERING GROUP has sole authority to make decisions determining the operation, order, and good governance of the DataPortability Project. It it is responsible for the vision, policy, legal, financial, intellectual property, and representations of the Project made to external parties.
Section 1.4 The STEERING group may, at its sole discretion, delegate any or all of its authority to an ACTION group or TASK FORCE. The STEERING group may also choose to revoke any delegated authority at any time.
Section 1.5 An ACTION group is a standing committee, chartered by the STEERING group, whose work is assumed to be ongoing.
Section 1.6 A TASK FORCE is a group that is chartered by the STEERING group with addressing a single problem or issue. It is assumed that a TASK FORCE group has a limited life span and will disband once its work is complete.
Section 1.7 AFFILIATED PROJECTS are ongoing work groups that are independently advancing the goals of DataPortability.org, but have no authority to set policy or speak publicly for the larger group. A group becomes an AFFILIATED PROJECT by posting its intention to the dataportability-announce mailing list.
Section 1.8 The OPERATING YEAR for DataPortability.org shall be defined as the period beginning on January 1 of a given year and ending on December 31 of the following year.
Section 1.9 Only the STEERING group may adopt motions that modify the text of this document. All current members of the STEERING group are eligible to vote on these motions. Quorum for these motions shall be two-thirds (2/3) the number of members in the STEERING group, and require a number of "yea" votes not less than half the number of members of the STEERING group. Voting shall be carried out in accordance with the procedures detailed in Article 8.
Article 2. Official Communications
Section 2.1 DataPortability.org shall make available several mailing lists that support the ongoing work of the group.
Section 2.2 The mailing list dataportability-announce shall be used for all official announcements. These include, but are not limited to, reminders about PLENARY membership deadlines, new votes, votes opening and closing, and the results of ballots and elections.
Section 2.3 The mailing list dataportability-vote shall be used by members to cast ballots on votes.
Section 2.4 Each ACTION or TASK FORCE group shall have a dedicated mailing list for discussions.
Article 3. The PLENARY
Section 3.1 A person becomes an active member of the PLENARY by posting a message to the dataportability-voting mailing list declaring their intention to be a member.
Section 3.2 Active membership in the PLENARY expires annually for all members at midnight, GMT on the last day of the OPERATING YEAR. Current members may declare their intention to remain in good standing for the following year up to 30 days before this date.
Section 3.3 The SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall keep an accurate record of members, showing the name and electronic mail address of each member of DataPortability.org PLENARY.
Section 3.4 The SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall determine and publish the form of PLENARY membership declarations, and shall have final authority over whether a particular message does or does not meet these criteria.
Article 4. The STEERING group
Section 4.1 The STEERING group shall always have a CHAIR, a DEPUTY CHAIR, a SECRETARY, and a TREASURER.
Section 4.2 The CHAIR shall preside at all meetings of the STEERING group and shall have such other duties and authority as may be conferred by the STEERING group.
Section 4.3 The DEPUTY CHAIR, if one is elected, shall, in the absence or disability of the CHAIR, perform the duties and exercise the powers of the CHAIR. The DEPUTY CHAIR shall also perform whatever duties and have whatever powers the STEERING group may from time to time assign him/her.
Section 4.4 The SECRETARY shall keep accurate records of the acts and proceedings of all meetings of the STEERING group. The SECRETARY shall give all notices required by law and by this document. The SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall have general charge of the membership records of DataPortability.org and shall keep a record of the members showing the name and electronic mail address of each member of DataPortability.org STEERING group.
Section 4.5 The TREASURER shall have custody of all corporate funds and financial records, shall keep full and accurate accounts of receipts and disbursements and render accounts thereof at the annual meetings of members, and shall perform such other duties as may be prescribed by the STEERING group.
Section 4.6 Membership in the STEERING group is determined by a vote of the PLENARY.
Section 4.7 The STEERING group shall consist of no fewer than four, and no more than twelve people.
Section 4.8 The term of service for a member of the STEERING group shall be one year from the date of election or appointment.
Section 4.9 The CHAIR may, at any time, at his or her sole discretion, call for a special election to fill any open seats. Special elections do not affect the terms of current members of the STEERING group.
Section 4.10 The SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall be responsible for the operation and certification of elections. In the event that the SECRETARY is unable to carry out this task, the CHAIR shall appoint a current member of the STEERING group to do so.
Section 4.11 The SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall announce all elections no less than two weeks before voting opens. The announcement shall be posted to the dataportability-announce mailing list, and shall include both the opening and closing dates of the ballot.
Section 4.12 Candidates declare themselves or are nominated after the vote has been announced, but not less than one week before voting opens.
Section 4.13 The ballot for STEERING group members shall remain open for no less than one week.
Section 4.14 Any active member of the PLENARY may nominate themselves or another active member to be a candidate for membership in the STEERING group by posting to dataportability-vote.
Section 4.15 The SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall determine and publish the form of STEERING group election votes, and shall have final authority over whether a particular electronic message does or does not meet these criteria.
Section 4.16 People who have joined the PLENARY no less than one week before the election opens are considered eligible to vote.
Section 4.17 Each member of the PLENARY shall have one vote to cast for each open seat. They may cast all votes for one candidate, or one vote each for multiple candidate. A member may also choose to cast only some of their votes and abstain the remainder.
Section 4.18 A Member of the STEERING group may resign at any time, for any reason, by notifying either the acting CHAIR or acting SECRETARY. Resignation is immediate.
Section 4.19 The SECRETARY may, at his or her sole discretion, choose to disqualify votes because the intent of the voter is unclear, there was a technical problem with the transmission of the vote message, multiple votes were cast, or a violation of eligibility has occurred.
Section 4.20 Within 48 hours after the close of voting, the current SECRETARY of the STEERING group shall tally the votes and publicly declare the outcome.
Section 4.21 Candidates are ranked according to the total number of votes that they received and, beginning with the candidate who received the most votes, each open seat is assigned to a candidate according to that order until all seats are filled or all candidates are assigned.
Section 4.22 In the event that fewer candidates than the number of open seats received votes, the remaining seats are to be left empty.
Section 4.23 In the interest of the smooth operation of the STEERING group the CHAIR may, at his or her sole discretion, choose to introduce a motion to impeach any member who has missed all votes and calls to quorum for one month. Removal decisions must be published to the dataportability-announce group, and shall take effect upon posting.
Section 4.24 STEERING group members can be impeached with a two thirds affirmative vote of the STEERING group. Once impeached, a member immediately loses all rights and privileges of membership in the STEERING group.
Section 4.25 In the event that the STEERING group has fewer than four members, the senior remaining member must immediately call for new elections. If the group has no SECRETARY, the senior member of the STEERING group shall assume the role of SECRETARY. No official decisions except those relating to the election can be made until the new STEERING group is in place.
Section 4.26 A simple majority of the members entitled to vote shall constitute a quorum at a meeting of the STEERING group.
Section 4.27 Every officially convened meeting of the STEERING group shall include time for public comment.
Article 5. Action Groups
Section 5.1 Each ACTION group shall have a CHAIR. The posts of DEPUTY CHAIR, SECRETARY, and TREASURER are optional.
Section 5.2 Unless otherwise specified by the STEERING group as part of the ACTION group charter, membership in the group is open to all interested members of the PLENARY.
Section 5.3 Unless otherwise specified by the STEERING group as part of the ACTION group charter, officer positions are to be determined by the members of the ACTION group, as they see fit.
Section 5.4 Unless otherwise specified by the STEERING group as part of the ACTION group charter, the ACTION group shall deliver a monthly status report to the SECRETARY of the STEERING group.
Article 6. Task Forces
Section 6.1 Each TASK FORCE group shall have a CHAIR. The posts of DEPUTY CHAIR, SECRETARY, and TREASURER are optional.
Section 6.2 Unless otherwise specified by the STEERING group as part of the TASK FORCE charter, membership in the group is open to all interested members of the PLENARY.
Section 6.3 Unless otherwise specified by the STEERING group as part of the TASK FORCE charter, officer positions are to be determined by the members of the TASK FORCE group, as they see fit.
Section 6.4 Unless otherwise specified by the STEERING group as part of the TASK FORCE charter, the TASK FORCE shall deliver a monthly status report to the SECRETARY of the STEERING group.
Article 7. Affiliated Groups
Section 7.1 AFFILIATED groups are independent projects that have decided to associate themselves with DataPortability.org, but which have not been chartered by the STEERING group.
Section 7.2 AFFILIATED projects form by completing a DataPortability.org Working Group Agreement and announcing their desire for affiliated status to the dataportability-announce mailing list. Groups are automatically considered affiliated unless the STEERING group determines that they should be removed.
Section 7.3 AFFILIATED groups must periodically deliver status reports to the SECRETARY of the STEERING group.
Section 7.4 The STEERING group can, at its sole discretion, for any reason, decide to revoke the affiliated status or any group.
Aticle 8. Motions and Decision Making
Section 8.1 Unless otherwise specified by the STEERING group as part of the group charter, official decisions made by any DataPortability.org group shall conform to the standard procedures described in this document. Situations not addressed in this document shall be handled according to the parlimentary procedures detailed in, "Roberts Rules of Order, 10th Edition".
Section 8.2 Decisions are made in the form of motions, which are either affirmed or rejected by the group.
Section 8.3 Any active group member may present a motion to that group.
Section 8.4 Official decisions by any DataPortability.org group must be announced in a public forum within 48 hours of the decision being made.
Section 8.5 Motions are provided to the group SECRETARY (or CHAIR, if the group has no SECRETARY). The CHAIR or SECRETARY will then present the motion to the larger group on behalf of the submitting member. If the vote is to be carried out immeditely, the SECRETARY reads the text of the motion to the group. The acting CHAIR will moderate discussion of the motion. At the conclusion of debate, the chair announces when voting is to open and close. If the vote is to be carried out via mailing list, the SECRETARY sends an email to the dataportability-announce group detailing the text of the vote and stating when voting is to open and close.
Section 8.6 If a quorum is present in person or otherwise connected in "real time" (teleconference, VOIP software, etc), the CHAIR may choose, at his or her sole discretion, to hold a vote on the motion immediately. If quorum is not present, or the chair determines that more deliberation is required than the current forum allows, the chair may, at his or her sole discretion, decide to conduct the vote using the dataportability-vote mailing list.
Section 8.7 Each eligible member may cast one vote per motion. The member may vote "yea" to approve the motion, "nay" to defeat it, "present" to be recorded as having voted for purposes of reaching quorum, or they may abstain entirely.
Section 8.8 The SECRETARY may, at his or her sole discretion, choose to disqualify votes because the intent of the voter is unclear, there was a technical problem with the transmission of the vote message, multiple votes were cast, or a violation of eligibility has occurred.
Section 8.9 A motion is passed if quorum is reached and it receives a greater number of "yea" votes than "nay" votes.
Section 8.10 The SECRETARY records the text of all ballots submitted to the group and whether each was affirmed or rejected.
Section 8.11 When voting is to be carried out using the mailing list, the acting CHAIR shall, at his or her sole discretion, determine when voting shall begin and for how long it shall remain open. The vote must be left open long enough that a representative set of the electorate has the opportunity to vote. When presenting a ballot, the acting SECRETARY must also declare the time period being allotted for voting and the appropriate form for votes.
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